Antonia Prisco, 92

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Antonia (Toni) Prisco, 92, a loving matriarch who shared her wisdom easily with friends and family, died Sunday in Clove Lakes Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, in Castleton Corners. She had resided there for two years.

Born Antonia Beneventi in the province of Avellino, Italy, she moved with family to Manhattan when she was 2 years old and graduated from Washington Irving High School. She had an artistic eye for design and color, but the times she lived in and her father's death prevented her from pursuing her dream of becoming a fashion designer.

After she and Frank Prisco wed, the couple moved to the Bronx in 1947. When her sons were teenagers, she worked for Dr. Jay's Slacks on Fordham Road for many years.

Intelligent and insightful, she was an avid reader and was interested in world affairs. She was engaged in the world and societal events, even in later years when she was homebound.

Mrs. Prisco played tennis and golfed until late in her life. Her cards, including those celebrating a new job or home, were the first to arrive.

She was a parishioner of St. Clare of Assisi R.C. Church in the Bronx and her Catholic faith helped sustain her. She lit a candle and said a prayer for every wish her family members had.

Mrs. Prisco encouraged acceptance of life's challenges and often said, "Trust me, it all works out in the end," family said.

Frank, her husband of more than 50 years, died in 2000.

Surviving are her sons, Gene and Peter; four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be Wednesday morning from the Harmon Home for Funerals, with a mass in Sacred Heart R.C. Church, both West Brighton. Burial will follow in St. Raymond's New Cemetery, the Bronx.